youth hostels, the history, people and ideas behind them
To Willersley Castle for a meeting today. I can't help but remember that Richard Schirrmann was here in 1934. He came with delegates from across Europe, from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Danzig, England and Wales, France, Germany, Holland, the Irish Republic, Luxembourg, Northern Ireland, Poland, Scotland and Switzerland. They met here for four days. They pooled their... Continue Reading →
Just back from a week in the Outer Hebrides, that chain of islands on the edge of the Atlantic coast of Scotland that I love so much. Time up there reminds me of a brave experiment in youth hostels that began in 1961. Each year in September, Herbert Gatliff, an unusual and influential Englishman, took... Continue Reading →
About the end of 1928, forty-six people formed the Northumbrian Trampers Guild to provide places where their members could stay when out walking. The group of keen walkers and cyclists, many of them members of young people's organisations, in Newcastle picked Sir Charles Trevelyan as their President. His support was vital to the guild. He... Continue Reading →
When German schoolteacher, Richard Schirrmann, moved to Altena, a small town surrounded by the Sauerland’s wooded hills, in 1903, life for the newly married, 29 year-old teacher was full of promise. The following is an extract from the biography of Richard Schirrmann. The Sauerland is an outdoor paradise for those escaping the industrialised cities of... Continue Reading →
SIMPLY HOSTELS 